Stories for 2018

Another Brexit referendum will become a plausible way forward if there is deadlock in Parliament, Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd has said. She told ITV's Peston show while she did not personally support another vote, the case for one would grow if MPs could not agree another solution.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed on Wednesday the second review of Argentina’s economic performance under the 36-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) that was approved on June 20, 2018.

The European Commission says it has started to implement its preparations for a no-deal Brexit - in case the UK leaves the EU without a plan. It has announced temporary measures to try to reduce the impact but says it cannot counter all the problems it expects.

The Trump administration says US troops are being withdrawn from Syria, after the president said the Islamic State (IS) group had been “defeated”. The Pentagon said it was transitioning to the “next phase of the campaign” but did not give details.

More than a third of vintage Scotch whiskeys tested at a specialist laboratory has been found to be fake, BBC Scotland has learned. Twenty-one out of 55 bottles of rare Scotch were deemed to be outright fakes or whiskeys not distilled in the year declared.

The United States Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate on Wednesday for a fourth time this year but lowered its forecast to two hikes in 2019 amid the recent stock market sell-off and uncertain growth prospects.

An earthquake measuring 6.2 degrees on the Richter scale struck Chile's Easter Islands in the South Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, US and Chilean seismic centres reported, while an ensuing tsunami was ruled out.

Brazil's former president Lula da Silva remained in prison on Wednesday as two Supreme Court judges issued competing orders over whether he should be released while he tries to get his graft conviction overturned.